THE LAST ONE HOME by Victoria Helen Stone - Review/Q & A/Giveaway

 

Lauren's father was released from prison ten years ago, after being sentenced to life for murder. He was released after a serial killer confessed to the crime. Lauren's mother was the one to testify against her father putting him behind bars. Since then, it's been too painful for her to be in touch with mom, but she tries her best. She struggles to have a relationship with her father, but he has moved on with his new family.

In Victoria Helen Stone's, THE LAST ONE HOME (LakeUnionPublishing), Lauren's recently broken up with her boyfriend in LA and her paternal grandmother has suffered a stroke at her ranch. Lauren decides to visit and help her grandmother around the ranch, which is too big for her grandmother to care for. While there, Lauren's grandmother is moved into an extended living facility. She surprises Lauren by signing the ranch over to her. But there's more to the ranch than Lauren could ever imagine.

THE LAST ONE HOME is a psychological thriller that grabs you on page one and doesn't let up until the end. It's about family, isolation, secrets and terror. Stone creates characters who have obsessions and weaknesses that are woven into their fabric. She creates a fearful atmosphere of apprehension and dread.

Her previous novel, JANE DOE has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television. I look forward to the same thing happening with THE LAST ONE HOME (fingers crossed).

We got the opportunity to ask Victoria a few questions.

Cindy Reads & Writes Interview – Victoria Helen Stone

1. Tell us about changing genres. 

I’d written more than two dozen romances when a former editor asked me to try my hand at suspense. I

wholeheartedly refused. But she asked again, several times, and I started to consider a change. It took months of brainstorming to come up with the idea for EVELYN, AFTER, and I was terrified to commit to it, but once I

started writing, I felt so free to write within a gray area instead of black and white. I could explore so much more

darkness in my protagonists without the pressure of having to redeem every questionable action. 

2. Which comes first, plot or characters?

For me, it always starts with characters, no matter what genre I’m writing. Sometimes a solid, whole personality

pops into my head to start off a story idea, but sometimes it’s just one pivotal scene and her reaction to it. In THE

LAST ONE HOME, Donna was the character that came to me fully formed, in all her prickly glory. 

3. The psychological profiles of your characters are very developed. Tell us about your research.

For this book I spent a lot of time reading up avoidant versus anxious relationship styles that people absorb from

dysfunctional families. Donna avoids vulnerability and challenges the people she loves, pushing back and causing

conflict. Her daughter Lauren, on the other hand, loves anxiously, always appeasing and holding on too tight. Both

of their stories center on the same narcissist, so I had a blast examining how differently they would react to that

one man’s love and attention.

4. Why are readers so intrigued with psychological thrillers?

I think reading thrillers (plus suspense and horror) is the practice of working through fears and finding resolution

in scary situations. For myself, moving through that kind of tension with a story is very comforting. You know that

bad things will happen and you know they will all be resolved and ended, and that’s way more satisfying than

dealing with our own daily fears and anxieties! 

5. Tell us about your process.

My process is a little boring. I spend a few months turning a book over in my head, figuring out the major plot

points. Then I type up the outline, and I start writing, sometimes scheduling a research trip into the writing

schedule. For this book I spent a few days at a beautiful bed and breakfast in the hills outside Sacramento with a

spiral notebook! From there, I work from page one to The End at a steady pace, usually writing 15 to 25 pages a

week.

6. The elevator pitch for your new novel, The Last One Home.

Lauren has tried to forgive the lies that sent her father to prison for murder thirty-five years earlier, but she can’t

forget, because the liar was her own mother. Now she’s back where it all started and discovering answers about

her family that she never wanted to find. 

7. Is there anything you'd like to share

This is my first thriller written with alternating points-of-view (bonus blast from the past: Donna’s POV is in

1985!), so I hope readers enjoy spending time with both Donna and Lauren as they dig through betrayals and

discover decades of secrets.

Victoria Helen Stone, formerly writing as USA Today bestselling novelist Victoria Dahl, was born and raised in the flattest parts of the Midwest. Now that she’s escaped the plains of her youth, she writes dark suspense from an upstairs office high in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

She enjoys summer trail hikes with her family almost as much as she enjoys staying inside during the winter. Since leaving the lighter side of fiction, she has written the critically acclaimed, bestselling novels Evelyn, After; Half Past; Jane Doe;  False Step; Problem Child; and the upcoming The Last One Home.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing we have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us the book you've enjoyed reading recently. We'll announce a winner. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please

To purchase THE LAST ONE HOME